“I tell you what,” she said, pulling her scrubs over her clothes. “You can sit there and keep me company, and not have to look at Derek.”
“I don’t know how you’re going to do it,” he muttered. Just the idea was making his stomach roll.
“I’m really good at detaching myself emotionally and not focusing on the fact it was a person. Right now I just think of this as a mystery that I need to solve. He isn't going to be Derek any longer to me. I can’t see him as a friend, or I won’t be able to do this.”
“You’re very strong, Desi,” he said, and it was the truth. It couldn’t be easy to have to put your hands in death daily, and not let it crack you under the pressure. “I’d have nightmares if I had to do it daily.”
She shrugged. “The dead don’t judge the living anymore, and I like to believe I can help them on the last stop before burial. If their lives were stolen, then I can at least tell the story of their death. Pass it off to the people like Elizabeth and Ethan that would find justice no matter what the cost.”
“I appreciate what you did for my brother, by not telling him about his injuries.”
Desdemona pulled out her tools and then started looking for trace. “Your brother is a really good guy. In fact you have a pretty great family. Your grandfather was scary at first, but he reminds me of a big teddy bear.”
“What did you two talk about?”
“Marriage and kids. He was pressuring me to marry you,” she said, and began pulling fibers off the tech and dropping them in little cylinder containers for trace.
“And are you going to?” he asked, thinking about the rings that were back in his bag next to their bed.
“Seriously Callen?” She pointed down at the man and looked over at him. “We can’t discuss getting married while I do an autopsy.” Desdemona deflected the topic.
“Sure we can,” he answered. “I’m not asking you right now, I’m discussing the possibility of it becoming a reality in the future. If my grandfather thought I was asking you to marry me while you were conducting an autopsy he’d kick my ass.”
Desdemona laughed. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I’m scared you’re going to get hurt, and lose you.”
“But what if you don’t marry me and I get hurt? It could go either way, since I’m an FBI agent, and I’ll be out on assignments.”
That was the other part of it. Could she be married to a man that wore a target on his back every day when he left the house?
“Granted, my official title is Liaison to the Native American Community. I don’t know how many people will want to kill me then,” he said, grinning.
“Not funny, Callen,” she said, doing the fingernail scrapings onto the paper. “That’s the other problem I’m having. I don’t know if I can handle you being shot at daily.”
“Well, I understand that, but honestly, you were shot at too the other day.” Maybe he shouldn’t point out the obvious, but she wore the same bull’s-eye he did working for the FBI. Right now she had a stalker, and that was going to be their big issue right after this assignment was over.
“Thanks for reminding me,” she said laughing, as she began removing the man’s clothing and bagging it. “Callen, it may get intense from here on out. I’m going strip him and check his body for trace.”
He understood what she was doing, giving him a way out of sitting there. “I’ll hang in here as long as I can,” he answered. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”
Desdemona looked up. “I’m not alone; I have Derek here to keep me company.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “If he starts talking back to you, I’m getting the hell out of here and fast,” he interjected.
She shook her head. “Okay, Derek. Tell me what happened to you,” she said, and started inspecting his body and the wounds that were inflicted on him. Now it was time to learn all about his last few minutes of life.
Ethan was sitting in the conference room that they were using as home base, and he wasn’t in a good mood. It was early in the day, and all he really wanted was the autopsy report, and to find the killer. Everything his wife had said to him was playing over and over in his mind, and he was starting to wonder if maybe he had screwed up the profile. How was this woman carrying these men to the Boy Scout camp to leave them? At this point he wanted to yank his hair out of his head in frustration. The more he dwelled, the more doubt clouded his mind.
“Stop thinking about it, Ethan,” she said, reading the reports that were sitting on the table in front of them.
“I’m trying, but that niggling doubt is making me insane,” he said, closing his eyes. “Do we have the trace reports back from the DNA samples of Sheila Court, Courtney Brewster and Wilma May?” he asked. The only thing he felt like they did right in the last two days was not ship those samples with Derek, or the killer would have them too. Small miracle on their end, and at least they could check them against the reports, especially since the hairs pulled from the first six victims were now all gone.
“They aren’t back, and I know how you feel, darlin’. Just try not to let it make you crazy. We’ve worked cases like this before, and we’ll figure it out.” Elizabeth dropped her boots on the corner of the table and leaned back in the chair.
“I can’t believe we lost the entire van with all the trace too,” he muttered. “Right now, a judge could throw it out of court as contaminated. Everything could just be useless in court.”
Elizabeth looked up. “True, but we have Derek downstairs, and we don’t know what trace is on him, and we still have the samples we appropriated from the women we suspect. Plus you and Callen have to head out shortly and interview Carly Kester. We need a DNA sample.”
“Lyzee, how am I supposed to get a DNA sample?”
Elizabeth laughed as she sent a text to her brother-in-law. “I know how you can do it, but neither of you are going to like it,” she implied, grinning.
“That smile scares the hell out of me,” he said. “That means I’m going to have to do something I really don’t want to do.”
She winked at him. “Cowboy, you just do what I say, and that DNA sample will be in the bag.” Then she described how to get it done. The look on his face said it all, and she already knew he had no intention of doing it.
“I had to smoke; I’m drawing the line on this one. I’m a married man, Elizabeth. In fact, just the mere idea that you’ll promote this, makes me think you’ve lost your damn mind. You lost it when that woman looked at me, and now you want me to do what?”
“Uh, Ethan. You’re the boss. Make the minion do it. The joy of being the boss is making Callen do whatever you ask him to do, and he can’t say no.”
“Elizabeth,” he closed his eyes and couldn’t believe he was going to go there just to get DNA, and then he thought about the deceased man lying downstairs.
Callen opened the door to the room and stepped in. “I got the text. I’m ready for the interview.”
Blackhawk shook his head. It was like leading a lost lamb to slaughter. “So, Callen, we need a DNA sample. Elizabeth and I managed to get three out of four of them.”
“Okay, so I’m up?” he asked, sitting beside Elizabeth and staring at her curiously, as she laughed. “What? Why do I feel all the sudden like I’m about to get hazed into the fraternity and it’s going to be painful and humiliating?”
Elizabeth was laughing so hard now, that the tears were filling her eyes. “I wish I didn’t dump that vegetable juice on the woman. I’d pay big money to see the Blackhawk boys in action on this one.”
Now Whitefox looked wary.
“Okay, here’s what you need to do,” he said, and then explained it to his brother, and he was staring at him like he was out of his mind.
“You do realize that I’m trying to convince our ME to marry me. If she hears about this that may be the deal breaker.”
“Suck it up, buttercup,” Elizabeth drawled. “You’re up and you sold your soul to the FBI. We’re calling in that card. The almighty B
lackhawk,” she said pointing at her husband, “and his evil counterpart,” she pointed at herself, “needs that DNA sample.”
Blackhawk grinned, knowing his brother wouldn’t be able to say no to his wife.
Whitefox stood up and didn’t look happy. When he walked past Elizabeth she slapped him on the ass, and her husband snickered at the look on his face.
“Normally I would have enjoyed that, but if Desdemona finds out about this, I’m telling her my bosses forced me into it. Then she can take it up with both of you.” He pulled on his coat. “Come on, let’s get this over with. I don’t want to leave her alone in autopsy.”
“Is it bad?” asked Blackhawk.
He looked at his brother and weighed the options. “I left before the bad part began. You wouldn’t want to be down there.”
Blackhawk nodded. “Thanks for not lying,” he said, grabbing his keys. Immediately, Callen felt bad for lying to his brother. His eyes met Elizabeth’s and they shared a secret between them that Ethan missed.
Elizabeth watched them leave, waiting until she could see them getting into the Denali and pull away. Immediately, she headed down to Desdemona’s room. There was no way she was letting the woman do this alone. Gruesome or not, the man on the table deserved one of his bosses to stand over him in death.
Both men observed Carly Kester walking across the parking lot to her store. In her hands were a coffee and her keys. They wanted to catch her alone, and before the store actually opened. They had thirty minutes to get the DNA and to do the interview.
“I’m really going to do this?” asked Whitefox, still surprised. “If I wasn’t here to be your whipping boy, you’d actually do this?”
“Cal, I had to go outside and smoke. I risked getting re-addicted to get the sample. You can pull this off. All you have to do is flirt your ass off and get her to give you some DNA.” Blackhawk was entertained.
“Okay, but this is a crazy idea. I can’t see it working.”
Blackhawk opened the Denali’s door and looked over at his brother. “Me either, but it’s going to be funny as hell to watch you do it. I almost can’t wait to see what the evil genius comes up with next when it doesn’t work.”
“You are both sadistic.”
Blackhawk grinned. “Goes with the job.”
The men crossed the lot, and Blackhawk knocked on the door, and briefly thought the woman would blow them both off. When she saw them, she rushed over. Thank God, she didn’t hold a grudge.
“Agent Blackhawk, I wasn’t expecting an early morning visit.” Carly Kester stared intently at the other man. “Hello and you are?” She extended her hand, turning on her million watt smile.
Blackhawk winked at his brother. This wasn’t going to be as hard as he thought after all. The bait was in the trap and apparently the woman liked Native men.
“I’m Special Agent Callen Whitefox.” He took her hand, and grinned at her with the legendary ‘Blackhawk grin’. If that didn’t draw her in then nothing would. As teens once they managed to perfect it, they used it all the time on the opposite sex, and rarely did it fail. It was legend on the Rez.
“Well, come in,” she said, then looked over at the other man. “Where’s your delightful wife? Leave her chained in the cage today?” she asked, sarcastically.
It took everything in both men to let it slide. They had a job, and they’d let Elizabeth beat the woman down later, and enjoy watching.
“She’s working back at the sheriff’s office. We’re here to talk about the victims again, and a timeline of when you saw the one man in ‘Cup of Joe’,” he smiled warmly, despite how he felt about the woman ragging on his wife.
Whitefox walked around her bookstore barely impressed. He’d owned most of the books in her shop, and nothing spectacular stood out. What he wanted to do was tell the woman that, especially after he just was making comments about Elizabeth. “I love your store, Ms. Kester. I happen to collect books, and have to say that you have a great selection.” All lies and his brother knew it, he was hiding a grin.
“What’s your favorite book, Agent Whitefox?”
“That’s easy, Ms. Kester. I’m very fond of ‘The Three Musketeers’.”
Now his brother had to turn his back to keep the woman from seeing the full blown smile.
She was intrigued. “What books are in your collection?”
Callen rattled off a few and watched her face. Fortunately for him, he knew his books. The woman was testing him. “My friend has a first edition Shakespeare’s Othello that is a piece of beauty,” he added, and prayed Desdemona wouldn’t ever hear about this conversation.
“Wow, that’s incredibly rare. What’s the condition?”
“It’s in a glass box, and I haven’t the privilege to touch it, but it looks pristine and class A grade.”
Carly Kester was impressed. That was a one hundred thousand dollar book, and obviously this man hung with people she’d like. Maybe he’d be a keeper until she could meet the owner of the book.
Callen leaned across the counter, and stared into her eyes and winked. “Maybe we can discuss it after I’m done with the assignment.”
“Maybe,” she smiled seductively. “But why wait?”
Whitefox stood and patted his pockets. “Damn, I don’t have a card with my number on it. Do you have one with yours?” he lied, knowing his cards were tucked behind his badge. He gave her the best ‘pick up’ smile in his arsenal. He’d used it countless times in the bars, before Desdemona. This was its final appearance, and he was retiring it immediately on walking out the door. Well, maybe he’d still use it around Elizabeth.
“I do.” Carly pulled out her card.
“I have to say, I love that lipstick color on you. It’s such a great shade of red. It’s very sexy and very memorable.”
Carly couldn’t help herself. On the back of the card she scribbled ‘Callen- call me’, and then kissed the paper, handing it to him. “Now you can’t forget me or my lipstick.” She flirted back, easily.
“Okay, we should probably get the interview over with,” interjected Blackhawk. “We only have one question.”
“Okay.”
“When you were in ‘Cup of Joe’ and saw the one victim, about what time was it?” asked Blackhawk, pulling out a pen and paper.
“Oh, that’s easy. Around three p.m. I ran over for a cup of coffee and then came right back here to reopen the shop.”
Blackhawk nodded. She had just confirmed the same time Wilma May and Joe Lebar had given him. “No coffee pot here?” he asked.
“No. Unfortunately, I had one, but it broke a while back.”
Both men nodded. “Thank you, Ms. Kester,” said Blackhawk, as he started for the door. “We’ll be in touch,” he added.
“Don’t forget to call me, Callen Whitefox,” she said, waving. My my, he was a fine piece of man indeed. Carly watched him walk away and wished he wasn’t wearing so many layers of winter clothes. Well, she’d have to make sure she got him right where she wanted him and naked too.
Back in the car, Blackhawk held open the evidence bag as his brother dropped it in carefully. They now had all four samples of DNA from the women in town that could possibly be the killer.
“I can’t believe that worked,” Whitefox said, laughing. “In fact, that went way too smoothly. I feel like I need to shower.”
“I know what you mean. You should have seen her as she was flashing her chest the other day. It wasn’t even worth the time of day.”
“Elizabeth is going to be thrilled this worked.”
“I’m telling you that my wife is an evil genius. It makes me wonder if I even wanted to marry her, or she instrumented the entire thing in Salem, and I was just way out of my league.”
Whitefox snorted. “Uh, Ethan, your wife is incredibly hot and probably about three leagues above both of us. Do you really care if it was her master plan or not? You definitely won the ‘sexy wife lottery’,” he replied grinning.
“Come to think of it, you�
��re right,” he started laughing. “There’s days I just watch her and wonder how the hell I get to sleep with her, have kids with her, and even caught her in the first place.”
“Perhaps the Blackhawk grin?” he asked, laughing.
“Please,” he said, “that grin only gets you so far. If she didn’t marry me as fast as she did, I would have sworn it was mercy sex.”
“Lightening doesn’t strike twice, you better be very grateful to the sex gods.”
Blackhawk knew it and debated if he should talk openly with his brother.
“What’s wrong,” he said, noticing his brother’s face change suddenly.
“Yesterday she actually was worried I’d cheat on her. Carly Kester walked out, and she told me she felt unattractive. I jumped down her throat telling her I wasn’t dad and to not stress it.”
Whitefox understood where his brother was coming from.
“If you ever cheated on your wife, I’d beat the hell out of you myself.”
“Wow, talk about blood being thicker than water.” Blackhawk laughed. “I wouldn’t ever do that. Like I said before, I got really lucky catching a woman like Elizabeth.”
“Yeah you did, but I understand how you always think you’ll be like dad. I feel that way too sometimes. Just take it easy on Elizabeth. You’re lucky.”
“I told her about our conversation.”
Whitefox didn’t know what to say to that.
Ethan Blackhawk could read the look on his face. “Just do me a favor, bro.”
“Yeah?” Something about Elizabeth knowing about their discussion tightened his body.
“Before you commit to Doctor Adare, make sure she’s the one your heart completely wants.”
Callen stared out the front window. He wasn’t going to lie to his brother. Both of them knew that he wanted a woman he couldn’t have. That ship had already sailed. “Thanks for the advice.”
“If you need to talk, you can always come to me. I’ll never not be here for you to guide you through anything. There’s nothing you can say to me that’ll make me hate you or divide us.”
True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) Page 48